Top News
Replacing Clean Power Plan with efficiency focus may still challenge coal
Replacing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan with a policy emphasizing efficiency improvements to lower carbon dioxide emissions could still trouble some U.S. coal plants, industry supporters warned.
LNG industry would get 'existential shock' from Trump steel tariff, experts say
President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. will impose a 25% tariff on imported steel could have a huge impact on the domestic LNG industry, where proposed export projects with multibillion-dollar price tags could become uncompetitive if costs rise for a key material in liquefaction facilities and their supporting pipelines, experts warned.
Appalachia region hit hardest by coal mine idling in last half of 2017
Appalachia coal basins bore the brunt of U.S. mine idling in the second half of 2017, despite increased overseas demand for the region's coal.
Power
* A number of associations and advocacy groups are planning on releasing a report in April on U.S. energy jobs, including in the renewables sector, picking up the effort after the U.S. Department of Energy canceled plans to fund the report.
* MidAmerican Energy Co. plans to close ash ponds at all of its coal-fired power plants, the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal reported.
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* Northeast utilities are working to rapidly restore electric service after a brutal storm left more than 1.5 million customers without power, USA Today reported.
* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied the Sierra Club's challenge to the air pollution permits of a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired plant, The Associated Press reported.
* A bill has been introduced in Michigan that bans utilities from charging customers who refuse to replace their analog meters with smart meters, ABC 12 WJRT reported.
* The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued permits for the construction of the 450-MW, natural gas-fired Birdsboro power plant.
* Oregon lawmakers are already working toward a cap-and-trade bill that could pass in 2019, after it recently failed during a short legislative session, according to the Portland Business Journal.
Natural gas/Oil
* While U.S. energy pipeline companies expect the recently reduced corporate tax rate to ultimately benefit their balance sheets, some midstream businesses took significant fourth-quarter 2017 earnings hits due to the diminished value of future tax breaks.
* Potential oil and gas drilling played a key part in the decision to scale back the Bear Ears National Monument in Utah, The New York Times reported, citing internal Interior Department emails.
* Dominion Energy Inc.'s Cove Point has become the second large-scale U.S. LNG exporter, joining Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass in shipping chilled shale gas around the world.
* The West Virginia Senate voted 23-11 to pass a bill that would allow companies to drill for natural gas and oil with the consent of at least 75% of owners, according to the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail.
* Environmentalists are criticizing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for pushing to connect more homes to natural gas lines, The Baltimore Sun reported. In 2017, Hogan signed a law banning hydraulic fracturing in the state.
* The U.S. EPA has finalized amendments to the 2016 oil and gas new source performance standards and proposed to withdraw the control technique guidelines. EPA said the move would save $14 million to $16 million in estimated regulatory compliance costs for the oil and gas industry from 2021 to 2035.
* Cosmetics company L'Oréal USA has agreed to purchase renewable natural gas from a planned processing facility at the Big Run Landfill in Ashland, Ky., local publication The Daily Independent reported.
* The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has decided to defer of its oil and gas lease sale near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, after fielding concerns from tribes and other communities.
Coal
* Despite federal regulators' rejection of a U.S. Department of Energy proposal to prop up financially struggling coal-fired power plants, the head of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity still hopes that grid operators will change wholesale market rules to keep even more of those plants from retiring prematurely.
* The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory signed a memorandum of understanding March 2 to pursue research on new ways to use coal to create innovative high-value products.
Commodities
* Fewer outages and a lower amount of large curtailments worked to keep total U.S. nuclear plant availability in winter 2017-2018 higher than the winter 2016-2017 for the majority of the season.

New from RRA
* In compliance with a New Jersey Board of Public Utilities order issued on Jan. 31, New Jersey Natural Gas Co. filed its proposal on March 2, to address the impacts on its revenue requirement of the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the federal corporate income tax rate to 21% from 35% effective Jan. 1, 2018.
Quoted
"Carbon policy is within reach," said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after a bill to establish a state carbon tax fell short in the Washington legislature.
The day ahead
* The U.S. House Committee on Rules will meet at 5 p.m. ET on H.R. 1119, or the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act.
* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a mixed opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.
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